#bookreview: Hall of Heroes

Hall of Heroes: A Fellowship of Fantasy Anthology by H.L. Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a fun anthology of short stories, this is the book for you! Each of the 27 stories in this anthology features a hero of some sort, whether they're heroic friends or warriors or parents, and since it's written by the Fellowship of Fantasy, all of them include some form of magic, superpower, or fantastic creature! There's a little bit of romance in some of the stories, but nothing more than an innocent kiss (or two), so this is perfectly safe for kids to read. I'm inclined to say it's aimed more at the MG/younger YA crowd.

Some of the more touching stories (to me at least) were those with heroic teenagers who did their best despite the odds and/or despite their apparent lack of useful powers: In The Hero Feat of Hannah Helstrom (J. Philip Horne), Hannah only has the strength of her determination and half-trained power of regeneration to attempt to save her cousin's life; Marisol in Sweet Basil (Lea Doué) is on the run from sorcerer hunters, yet she still uses her gift of healing as best she can; Gem (RJ Conte) is the only one who can save his world ... at the cost of his life, whilst Jaiharu in Sacrifice to the Iara (H.L. Burke)is willing to give up his life to save his beloved sister; whilst Jenny puts aside personal enmity to save her nemesis in Save the Day (Page Zaplendam).

There's more than that, though. There are superheroes and supervillains, magicians and sorcerers, sprites and faeries, angels and demons, princes and princesses, and all sorts of legendary beasts (mermaids and dragons, oh my)!

Out of the 27 stories, there was only one that I was rather meh about, so I'd say this was a very good investment.

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